Mario Canseco: Sports reprises battle over Napster

Related

Earlier this month, an Insights West national survey showed just how much Canadian attitudes toward television are evolving. Led by millennials and British Columbians, Canadians spending less time watching television live on a traditional set and more time watching downloaded videos and streaming content.

Our media landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade. “Binge-watching” was a term reserved for a weekend of DVD rentals. Now it is happening with content that is otherwise only available through premium channels — such as HBO’s Game of Thrones — or productions that are not associated with any network, such as Netflix’s House of Cards.

The television industry has tried to get a piece of Netflix’s success, with platforms such as Shomi or CraveTV advertising full seasons of television classics on demand. Streaming on these online sites already amounts to 31 per cent of the viewing time for Canadians aged 18-to-34.

Still, there is a type of programming where “traditional” television is supposed to have an advantage over the power of any downloading or streaming service: sports. Our survey showed that 18 per cent of Canadians watch sports channels every day — including 31 per cent of men.

When it comes to sporting events, the adoption of Web content prepared and delivered by the networks themselves has been slow. Part of the problem lies on the intricacies of television rights and their application across borders. Canadians cannot access, for instance, the streaming services from the U.S. to watch March Madness basketball — unless they cross the border. The CBC streamed all World Cup matches on its website in 2014, but you had to be in Canada to watch them.

Sports networks continue to battle every night for the coveted middle-aged, male demographic that is essential to advertisers. The nightly highlight packages are usually similar, regardless of which network or anchor a particular person prefers. However, if you don’t mind watching sports on a smaller screen, goals from soccer matches, home runs from baseball games and hat tricks from hockey contests are all available on YouTube.

Sports leagues have long fought to remove these highlights from websites, but the efforts have proven mostly futile. Some have opted to simply create their own YouTube presences and invite people to watch the highlights “from the source” instead of fan-generated videos.

Watching sports on televisions costs Canadians more money than ever before. In the year 2000, most hockey games were shown on regular cable, and the Canadian Football League (CFL) could be seen on the national broadcaster for free. Now, hockey — whether on television or mobile devices — usually comes with an added cost, and a cable network is the official home of Canadian football.

The inaccessible price of television rights has forced sports networks into the depiction of “entertainment” as sport. Poker and darts have taken spots on cable sports channels that, not long ago, were exclusively occupied by actual contests of fitness and endurance.

Most Canadians are uninterested in this “bait-and-switch”. In our survey, 54 per cent of cable watchers want sports channels to show real sports and not poker or darts competitions — a proportion that jumps to 65 per cent among men. Simply put, two thirds of the coveted demographic that Canadian sports network advertisers are craving will not go from watching the Los Angeles Kings to figuring out who Mervyn King is (he is a darts player from England, in case you wondered).

So, where to go when the content sports fans seek is not available? To the dozens of streaming sites that can show you hockey, soccer, rugby or tennis around the clock. Someone is taking the content that is being shown in other places — usually free of charge — and placing it online where most computers can reach it.

It took the better part of a decade for the music industry to figure out a way to mitigate the monetary problems caused by Napster. Leagues and networks are facing a similar situation with sports online. One thing is certain: if sports fans are going online for their fix, they are not going to be drawn back to the television set by men holding cards or throwing darts.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.